— Mayor warns owners of derelict buildings

THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has held off tearing down certain derelict buildings in the City for another two months, so as to give the owners another opportunity to ‘get their act together’.

This was announced by Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green when she met recently with officers and councillors at City Hall.

“I received requests from some persons, and I have asked them to write to the Engineer’s Department. Some of them are asking for an extension of two months to get their act together,” Chase-Green said.

According to her, some of them have expressed their willingness to comply with the M&CC order to take the structures down, and have even offered their help in doing so. As a result, those persons have been going in to look at their rates and taxes at City Hall.

The M&CC had earlier this month embarked on a campaign to demolish derelict buildings in the City. The first one that was to be demolished is situated on Waterloo Street, a few doors away from John Lewis Styles.
Town Clerk Royston King had informed that numerous complaints have been received about this very building, and because the people there are very fearful for their lives, this one would be demolished first. Reports are that the owners of this building have already started works to have it demolished.

Meanwhile, City Hall is trying to ascertain who are the owners of some 52 buildings in North Ruimveldt, Kingston, Campbellville, Werk-en-Rust, Lacytown, among several other areas, in order to serve them requisite notices.

The City Engineer’s Department conducted an audit and found these buildings, which King had described as a threat to life and limb. Four such buildings were taken down last year.
The Town Clerk had explained that the municipality would be taking down the unoccupied buildings first, and then would be moving to deal with the occupied ones.

However, he said the M&CC would be seeking the support of other agencies to see if they can assist in relocating some of the people.

“Many of these places do not have the basic sanitary facilities; they are extremely dangerous,” he said.

He said once the buildings are taken down, they will attach the cost of demolition to the rates and taxes of those concerned.

The Town Clerk had said the initiative of removing derelict buildings follows the launch of the Green City initiative, intended to restore Georgetown to its former glory.

“We’re having a holistic approach to cleaning up Georgetown and to pushing this whole concept of a Clean and Green City. It is an inter-departmental approach, wherein all the departments will be involved, including the Constabulary, Engineer’s and Public Health departments, along with the Volunteer Corps, as part of the Green City initiative.”